dividuals. ‘Itg _Nobody_ ‘gnestions ‘the: fact that,-we are in- S without saying. But, if this is.so, then why is so much time spent in school trying to make lt individuals conform to the same mold? In this | column, Jim _ McDowell, “questions: system . of | rules”: and. procedures - which . help create the person "who will not speak out, who will not step ‘out of line’ and who will “not question. — . Perhaps our. educators are simply paying ‘lip service. to the fact that; -our children must grow as ‘individuals, or. perhaps they ‘are not even aware that what, they are doing is the exac Opposite. | “YOU | DON'T EVEN KNOW WHOI AM!” By Jim’ McDowell -Our greatest challenge is to know -how not to waste our most valuable resource: the energy of our youth. I’ve often suggested that the response -to that challenge is ‘simple: instead of being frightened by their energy and. concentrating on north shore news 1 1 39 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, 8.C. v7M 2H4 OFFICE/NEWS (804) 980-0511 CLASSIFIED 986-6222 CIRCULATION 986-1337 Gu SNL Publisher | Peter Speck | Associate Publisher Graham Editor-in-Chief _ Noel Wright Managing Editor Andy Fraser . News Editor Chris Lloyd Photos Ellsworth Dickson Advertising Director - Eric Cardwell Production - Tim Francis Faye McCrae Classified Berni Hilliard Administration Andrew Watters Accounts Sytvia Sorenson , North Shore News, founded in 1969. aa an independent community newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111. Part 111, Paragraph 111 of the Excise Tax Act, ia published each Wednesday and Sunday the North Shore Free Preas Lid and distributed to every door on the North Shore Second Class Ma)! Registration Number. 3885 VERIFIED CIRCULATION 49,503 Entire contenta® 1978 North Shore Free Preas Ltd. Ali rights reserved. Se the. ‘ children’s weaknesses SO as to.“control”. them, we could : . recognize the strengths. that. all children have and find. : “ways to respond to their - powers. - . To make this practical, I asked “the chid in me” why the two of us often had such a hard time. getting along: And. he an- , Fules?. That's not the kind Of : more swered, “You don't even know who I am! If you would just... - Stop \ wanting me to be perfect, and let me do things the way I know how. ; Stop . asking me to pay attention to you all the time, and let ma do it myself. Stop looking for the ‘right answers all the time, and think about how I might be looking at the question in a different way. Stop making me compete with other kids, and let us. learn from each other's . _ mistakes. Stop teaching me bits and | pieces of things, and let me explore everything that I meet in life. Stop asking me to only. special things, when I know that I learn more if I use all my abilities. ‘LET ME GROW Stop acting ike your job is tq.tell me what society thinks and knows, and start acting like I count as a person. Stop acting like you have all the answers, when you just have more experience. Stop. pretending you can read my mind or that I can read yours, and help me to have new, exciting ex- periences. ‘Stop asking me to analyze one thing after another, and "Stop putting a: label c on me, and give me a chance to work in different ways and on lots of levels. Stop wanting me to do things the same way as everyone else, and let me do it my own way. Stop trying to make me compete for your approval, and iet me enjoy working with my friends. Stop acting like you're so superior and generous when you try to help me, and let's work seriously together without any fuss. ..then I might be able to learn better. It would be more fun for me, and you might even enjoy it more.” . children in some ways, yet do . ; pa _ "itdergartens many of ee oe ....dind inadequate? If the way [| Lf WHO NEEDS | THEM “My first reaction to this | litany of my..failures as a ~- parent and teacher. was to say, “Who needs. a ‘bunch of Person ‘want tobe: That's _ : the. phoniness I've tried to.” avoid.” . “ a “But ldid want to change - _. ‘to become more responsive to young people's powers. How could I begin? As I thought about this ~question, the mail-‘arrived;-~ and curiously, ‘brought .a useful clue in a letter from ” Bill Metcalfe who's teaching _ adults on an Indian reserve up north. “BIG TEE. BURGER FRIES | any size ene + “Three of my students, all old people, never went to school,” wrote Bill. “Two of them are sisters -- Lizette and Josephine. They’re ‘like .they’ve seen more life, change, grandchildren, and -hardship than most of us. But they. dren’t afraid to be wrong. When they make a .mistake, they think it’s funny. They take it as a joke, but they don’t get silly about . it, as many students do to-| cover up their em- ’ barrassment. And my other - Students, even if they've ‘% finished only grade two 25 & years ago, are ‘afraid of mistakes.” -Whataway — to save! Up to$900 rebate on a 1979 © Datsun 310 at North Shore Datsun! -“Mistakes” measure the “distance between those who , think they know the answers or know how something ought to be done, and those who are learning -- searching for their own solutions. Our attitudes about mistakes tend to lengthen that distance. ; . . Watch for the-North Shore Datsun flyer, being delivered If JI concentrated = on to every home on the North Shore right now. Then read all the details on how you can save $900 on anew ands economical Datsun 310 ... Datsun’s $500 factory rebate, plus | | : | changing my attitudes about mistakes, would it release ‘some of the other changes “the child in me” wanted me to make? Is that the key to letting teaching follow learning? Is it perhaps the kind _of | | tat . Datsun "cade i in. ~ Similar rebates on 1979 Datsun 210 and Sportruck models. | Visit North Shore Datsun now! | kids learn in ‘sthool can change at that level, can it spread to the other grades? When was the last time you laughed at your own mistakes? LOOSE FANBELTS? CHECK nt OFTEN.